[geeks] Where to find the Netra Open Boot Prom Update

[Kris Kirby]

On Fri, 14 Jun 2002, Kurt Huhn wrote:
> Fucking micro-managers.  Why can't sysadmins be left alone to do their
> job?  It should be a reasonable assumption that, when hiring a sysadmin,
> you're hiring them because they were the best you could find at a given
> salary - right?  LEAVE US ALONE AND LET US DO OUR JOB!!!

That's it; I've got to buy you a beer. :)

> Oooooh, I always keep the 'I can hack your systems in 30 seconds flat'
> demonstrations hedged for much later.  I like to do it when nobody is
> around, get the machine working right, and just explain it as 'I am a
> sysadmin, it's my job to make it work, that is all'.  If they persist in
> wanting to know *how* it was done, I'll respond with something along the
> lines of 'there are dark magicks here...' or 'the force is strong in
> this one'.  Appear aloof, yet available...

Actually, that was one of the things I did. I work (or used to?) the
`afternoon' shift... 4P - 1A. When I tore into it, it was just me and two
individuals of lesser clue (i.e.: not unix people[0]). But apparently the
mere act of breaking-in was enough. Well, that and telling a friend of
mine some `interesting' details of the arrangement of the network over
AIM. Somebody thinks that security through obscurity is a good idea.
Fortunately for me, $FRIEND has spent the last two years working on
$MILITARY_INSTALLATION in a variety of assignments (all as a contractor)
-- we've also shared the root passwords on a few machines and more or less
have each other's implict trust. He's kinda my padawan learner. :)

(Sysadmins are Jedi -- Crackers are Sith.)

> Give 'em the 'WOW' factor, but don't ever demonstrate how you did it -
> if at all possible.

Seems everytime I go to work for Corporate America, I get Dilberted,
everytime.

[0]:

--
Kris Kirby, KE4AHR          | TGIFreeBSD... 'Nuff said.
<kris at nospam.catonic.net>   | IM: KrisBSD | HSV, AL.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony."